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Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was an American singer, actor and a fighter for equal rights for all men. He is best remembered for singing “Ol’ Man River” (1936).

In the 1930s and 1940s he was one of the best known black men in the world, but by the 1950s he had become known as a suspected communist.

His father was a slave who escaped through the Underground Railroad, later becoming a Presbyterian minister. He spoke out against injustice and was forced to resign. His mother was a schoolteacher. When Robeson was six her clothes caught on fire from the stove. She died.

From his father Robeson learned to have an “unshakable dignity and courage in spite of the press of racism and poverty”.

Robeson did well in school, became an All-American football player and then went to New York to get his law degree at Columbia University. He got into a top law firm but then found that whites refused to work with him.

He turned to stage acting. He was best known for playing the lead in “Emperor Jones” (1924, New York; 1925 London) and “Othello” (1930, London; 1943, New York). He also acted in films, “Show Boat” (1936) being his best-known. But later he left film acting: the stereotypes that Hollywood made blacks act out sickened him.

Robeson had a very deep, rich singing voice. He gave concerts and put out records. In 1925 he became the first person ever to give a concert of Negro spirituals.

But despite being a famous singer and actor who travelled the world performing, many whites still would not accept him. He was refused service at restaurants, rooms at hotels – and not just in the American South either.

In 1934 he travelled to the Soviet Union and there he found something he had never experienced before: “Here for the first time in my life … I walk in full human dignity.” He saw communism as the answer to racism.

In the 1940s he spoke out against racism in all its forms and continued to sing.

In 1950 the American government asked him to sign a piece of paper saying that he was not a communist. He refused. They took away his passport.

It got worse: He was blacklisted by concert halls. His records were pulled from shops. His income fell from $104,000 (145,000 crowns) in 1947 to $2000. They even took away his title as an All-American football player.

When he was brought before the McCarthy hearings they asked why he did not live in the Soviet Union. He said:

Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay right here and have a part of it just like you. And no fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear?

He wrote a book about his life story, “Here I Stand”. When it came out in 1958 the New York Times refused to review it.

He got his passport back that year because of a Supreme Court ruling, but by then he was a broken man.

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12 Responses

I first heard about him in a class I took a couple years ago (i had never heard of him before). It was really sad how they broke him and his spirit in the end. I found it fascinating how he could be blind to the repercussions of communism, because he was so focused on the equality that communism brought. lol!

He was a man beyond his time ( i think that he should be an inspiration to being steadfast and true one’s belief- no matter what will happen)I love his voice too(very deep and soulful)…very sexy!

Some say he was a fool, that he should have kept his mouth shut about his communism. But I say his finest moment came when he refused to sign that paper, when he refused to deny his communism. Very few people have that kind of courage. In a different age he would have been a saint and a martyr. Yes, he was a great man.

Hi abagond,sorry this post is coming late. Thanks for the post on Paul Robeson. i read about him in Wikipedia.He demonstrates the resilience of the people from whom he descended from i.e the igbo tribe in eastern Nigeria.the igbos are known to be very headstrong and stubborn and while growing up in the village we were often told folk stories about how my people always resisted enslavement during the era of slave trade by often and always resorting to committing suicide at any given opportunity. you could read this up about the igbos. Great post as usual of a great man indeed.

I read briefly skimmed over the testimony of Paul Robeson,before the House comitteee on un-American activities. From the little that i read and i intend to go back and read the rest. But, the little that i did read, Mr. Robeson was bold and unapologetic about how he felt about the injustice of black people in America and black people globally, he was bold and resilient in his attitude about the practice of Jim Crow in America, and the imperialism/colonialism that oppressed African people. I think the white interrogators were taken aback that he showed no fear where they were concerned. That’s a movie that Spike Lee should consider making. I want to learn more about him. It was tragic how the system destroyed this man’s career. The system wanted to break and destroy him.

What a brave, fascinating and dignified man that Paul Robeson was! I really liked not only his soothing, rich voice but also his resilience when it came to standing up to the racist, weak-minded cowards that could Not succeed in him signing the Communist declaration, bravo for this post Abagond!